DIY Voodoo Doll & Witch Doctor Halloween Costumes

I’ve always loved Halloween. But as an adult its become all the more exciting for me. Probably because it is less socially acceptable to wander in public dressed in costume as an adult on the other 364 days of the year. As a kid if you wear your superman costume to the store people are like, “Oh how cute!”. As an adult, it becomes significantly less “cute”. So I fully embrace Halloween as a time where I can let my freaky flag fly and get really into the dress-up fun. My friends and family have notice my obsession and have come to expect some kind of get-up out of me every year. How could I disappoint?! Last year I was admittedly a bit of a slacker. I did dress up, (I was Maleficent and I made Daniel be my Crow), but due to a very hectic work schedule and a new baby, I didn’t take many pictures or get really into it. To make up for that I created DIY Voodoo Doll & Witch Doctor Halloween costumes for our annual Boo Bash.

Take a look…

Heres a closeup of Daniel’s makeup…

Heres some closeups of my makeup…

I love the 3D pins…

Pretty cool huh?! I made all both costumes and accessories and did the makeup with things from my everyday makeup drawer. Here are some details and tips if you’d like to DIY your own.

VOODOO DOLL:1. I used 2 yards of Swedish weave fabric I bought from Walmart in cream. I liked it better than burlap because it had a wider weave and was way way softer and hang better on the body.

2. I dyed the fabric with brown RIT dye that was watered down. I scrunched the fabric a little while dying so that is would purposely dye unevenly, making it look a little scruffy and aged.

3. I folded the fabric in half hamburger way (with the frayed cut side on bottom). Then I cut up the sides, starting at the widest corners on the bottom of the fabric and tapering in toward the top, slightly flipping out at the arm area. Then I cut a wide half oval in the top (opening it up to be a full oval ones unfolded). I wanted a wide, off-shoulder neckline.

4. I sewed up the inside edges of the sides of the dress, leaving an opening on either side for the arm holes. Then I sewed in an elastic band on the inside edge of the neckline to give the neck a gathered look and more stability. Then I sewed a simple stitch along the raw edges of the arm holes to prevent too much fraying.

5. To make the heart and 3D pins, I used red scrap fabric, FabriTac glue, small dowels I got at Walmart in a pack, small round toppers I also got at Walmart in a pack, grey and black paint, a small piece of thin wood (I used a wooden gift tag that I had lying around), and some real sewing pins.

6. I cut the heart shape out of the red fabric and set it aside. Then I painted the dowels and glued the tops on. I cut the dowels at various sizes with kitchen shears.

7. I glued the wooden piece to the dress where the heart was going to be. Then I glued the heart over the top.

8. I clipped the ends of 3 sewing straight pins (so that the round tops were off and just the metal needle remained) using wire cutters. Then I pushed the cut ends into the ends of the dowels leaving half or so of the pin exposed (the pointy side out). This allows me to push them into my wooden piece under my heart, creating a 3D look. I did it this way so that I can easily remove them if they start to annoy me while I party. It is easier to push the big DIY’d pins in to the heart on the dress using needle nose pliers so you can make sure the pin in the end is going into the heart and not further into the dowel. (You’ll see what I mean).

10. I am wearing a black tulle skirt under the dress to make the bottom half fuller. I used a simple long piece of jute rope to tie the waist and then adjusted the fabric around my waist until it looked good.

11. The wig is from Walmart and I just cut the bangs myself and used hair ties to make pig tails. The “pins” are bobby pinned in to the wig.

12. The “stitches” on my neck, arms, and legs I made from simple black elastic tied into circles and then I glued on little piece of black felt to look like the stitches. Easy breezy.

WITCH DOCTOR:

I basically recycled a lot of what I used for the Mad Hatter costume from a couple of years ago. I used a lot of Dollar Tree decor items to embellish the hat and make the necklaces.

The hat was made with a skeleton hand, some beads and leather and burlap, a feather sprig, and some dollar skeleton garland I tore apart. I glued it all together with hot glue.

The necklaces were made from a bamboo wind-chime from the Dollar Tree and wooden beads from the Dollar Tree.

The deadlock wig is from Walmart.

I bought the snake off of Amazon.

The shirt, jacket, and pants were recycled from old costumes or clothes Daniel hadn’t worn in a while.

The skeleton cane was made with PVC pipe I covered in burlap with hot glue and rafia. I added feathers on top of the rafia and glued a skull to the top.

To see the step by step makeup looks, watch these tutorials on my Youtube channel.
So, what are you going as for Halloween? What has been the best costume you’ve seen? Any ghost stories you’d like to share? HAPPY HALLOWEEN everyone!